Culture during Peter's reforms. Textbook: Petrine reforms and their meaning

Petrine reforms in the field of culture. Culture in the 1st half. 18th century

Peter's reforms are difficult to evaluate unambiguously; they had a dual character. First of all, Peter’s choice between East and West in favor of the latter was historically necessary and therefore correct. Attempts to preserve the former original Russia in an unchanged form were hardly feasible, or they could lead to Russia losing its independence and independence, and at the same time to the disappearance of its originality.

The transformations begun by Peter caused the economic growth Russia, allowed it to significantly expand its territory - by annexing Crimea, the Northern Black Sea region, the North Caucasus and the western lands, they turned it into a great and powerful empire. Thanks to victories in Northern and Turkish wars Russia received the status of a Baltic and Black Sea power. New large cities arose in it - St. Petersburg, which became the capital of the state, Sevastopol, Ekaterinoslav, Ekaterinodar, Ekaterinburg, Odessa, etc.

Russia's high economic and military potential allowed it to exert enormous influence on the course of world history. At the same time, grandiose transformations became a difficult test for the people. He had to pay a huge price for creating a new Russia.

Almost all areas of public life were subjected to deep reform - the state administrative structure, the economy, the army, the Church, science and education, artistic culture. The main content and nature of the reforms being carried out expressed two trends: secularization, that is, secularization, weakening of the religious and strengthening of the secular principle in culture, as well as its Europeanization.

In 1711, instead of the former large Boyar Duma (up to 900 people), Peter 1 established a Senate consisting of 9 people appointed by the Tsar himself. The Senate acted as the highest body in matters of legislation and public administration.

The country was divided into provinces and districts. Thanks to these innovations, the state achieved highest degree centralization and turned into an absolute monarchy.

The reform of the Church was of exceptional importance, which significantly limited the place and role of religion and the Church in the life of society. The main loss of the Orthodox Church in the life of society. The main loss of the Orthodox Church is the abolition of the patriarchate. His place was taken by the Spiritual College, or the Holy Synod, headed by the chief prosecutor appointed by the tsar. The Church lost part of its lands and income, which significantly weakened its economic foundations. The Petrine era created favorable conditions for reviving the economy. Russia is beginning to actively develop industrial production. The number of weaving and textile enterprises, especially those producing cloth and wool, is rapidly growing in the country. The Urals becomes a center for the smelting of metal, which has been exported abroad since the 20s of the 18th century. Industrial production of porcelain was organized for the first time.

Significant progress is observed in all material culture, in technology and technology. The Ural teletechnician Polzunov developed a project for a universal steam engine and built a steam power plant, ahead of the English inventor Watt. A self-taught mechanic, Kulibin invented many mechanisms - a clock, a searchlight, a semaphore telegraph, and developed a design for a bridge across the Neva. In agriculture, a scythe is used instead of a sickle, stud farms are created, and cattle breeding is successfully developing. Peter 1 gave great importance trade, calling it “the supreme owner of human destiny,” and contributed in every possible way to its development. On his initiative, large fairs are organized, canals are built: Vyshnevolotsky was built, construction of the Volga-Don canal has begun.

The development of material culture and economy made it possible to modernize the army, which made it one of the most modern and powerful. Cavalry artillery appeared in the Russian army for the first time, and hand grenades and bayonets began to be used. The main achievement in military affairs was the creation of the Russian fleet - Peter's favorite brainchild.

The 18th century was the time of the creation in Russia of a system of secular education and science, which had previously been practically absent. The profound transformations taking place in all areas of social life acutely posed the problem of raising the cultural and educational level population, which could not be solved without a wide network of new educational institutions. In 1701, a Navigation School was opened on the Sukharev Tower in Moscow, which in 1715 was transferred to St. Petersburg, where the Naval Academy was created on its basis. A little later, several more schools similar to the Navigation School appeared - Engineering, Artillery and Medical.

In 1703, Gluck’s private secondary school was opened in Moscow, with the task of training personnel for scientific activity. Digital schools formed the basis of primary education in provincial cities. Various types of officials were trained in special schools for clerks. At the largest manufactories - in the Urals and other places - vocational schools were opened. In 1722, the first commercial school appeared.

The St. Petersburg Academy, created on the initiative of Peter and opened in 1725, played a major role in the formation and development of science.

Unlike Western ones, the Russian Academy did not deal with theology, being an entirely secular state institution. At the same time, she was closely connected with Russian art. In 1732, an art department was organized under her. Having strong support from the state, the Academy already in the first decades created world-class works.

An exceptional role in the development of domestic and world science was played by the great Russian scientist Lomonosov (1711 - 165), who became the first Russian member of the Academy in 1745. He was not only a great natural scientist, but also a poet, philologist, artist, and historian. In terms of the scale of his personality, he was in no way inferior to the European titans of the Renaissance. He emphasized the universal character of his personality.

The most important milestone in the formation and development of Russian science was the founding of Moscow University in 1755. Initially it had three faculties: philosophy, medicine and law. Then it quickly became the largest center for training specialists in all branches of knowledge. In 1783, the Russian Academy of Sciences was created, with Princess Dashkova becoming its first president. The Academy also played a huge role in the development national science. In general, it is possible with with good reason to say that within one century Russian science has made a powerful leap forward. Starting almost from scratch, she was able to rise to the world level.

The 18th century was marked by profound changes in public consciousness, a significant revival and rise of social thought. This was facilitated both by Peter’s reforms and by strengthening and expanding contacts with European countries, thanks to which the ideas of Western rationalism, humanism and the Enlightenment penetrated into Russia. One of the important features of the changes taking place in the public consciousness is the weakening of the influence of religious ideology and the strengthening of the secular, scientific and rational principles. The second significant feature is the desire to comprehend the past and present of Russia, which was accompanied by the growth of national self-awareness.

Profound changes affected not only the considered areas of culture, but also the entire way of everyday life. Here one of the main changes was associated with the introduction of a new chronology and calendar. By decree of Peter, instead of the previous counting of years from the “Creation of the World,” it was henceforth ordered to count years from the Nativity of Christ, that is, from January 1, 1700, as was customary in European countries. True, Europe used the Gregorian calendar, and in Russia the Julian was introduced. According to Peter's decree, a new tradition was established - to solemnly celebrate the "New Year and the Centennial Century."

According to another decree of Peter, a new form of communication between people was introduced - assemblies. Representatives of the upper classes of society gathered at them to relax and have fun dancing, casual conversations, and playing chess and checkers. The daily life of the court nobility also included the tradition of bilingualism. Under Peter and Anna it spreads German, and starting from Elizabeth - French. Influence French culture It also manifested itself in the fact that the ladies of the noble society began to play music on the harpsichord.

Significant changes are taking place in clothing. Old Russian long robes are giving way to German caftans and short and narrow European clothes. Men of the upper classes are losing beards. Among the court nobility, European rules of etiquette and secular manners of behavior were established. The rules of good manners among the children of nobles are promoted by the popular book of that time, “An Honest Mirror of Youth, or Indications for Everyday Conduct.”

The cultural transformations of the 18th century concerned mainly the privileged classes of Russian society. They hardly affected the lower classes. They led to the destruction of the former organic unity of Russian culture. Moreover, these processes did not take place without costs and extremes, when some representatives of the highest circles of society completely forgot the Russian language and culture, Russian traditions and customs. Nevertheless, objectively they were necessary and inevitable. Cultural transformations contributed to the overall development of Russia. Without modern secular culture, Russia would not be able to claim a worthy place among the advanced countries.

The meaning and purpose of Peter's reforms

Petrine reforms usher in the era of the New Time in Russian history and, above all, the era of Russian Enlightenment, which sets the tone and ideological orientation. Let us note in passing that the term “Petrine reforms” (with a capital letter) is not understood literally as the reforms carried out by Peter I (especially since the actions and campaigns of Peter the Great’s time are very difficult to qualify as reformist activity in its traditional sense - it is rather like considered by most researchers to be a “cultural revolution”, a qualitative historical “leap”, a violent “turn”), but as a conventional, scientifically established name for the sociocultural “first push” of modernization processes in Russia, which brought the country and Russian culture out of the era of Antiquity and the Middle Ages ( not completely separated from each other and coexisted as a syncretic unity for more than seven centuries - from the end of the 10th to the end of the 17th century) into the modern paradigm.

Century of Russian Enlightenment (XVIII century in Russia) – important period in the development of Russian culture, which meant a gradual transition from the traditional Old Russian culture, which combined the features of the Middle Ages with poorly developed feudal relations and tribal, communal way of life, to the culture of the New Age (Russian classical culture of the 19th century), which began with Peter the Great’s reforms (the first successive an attempt to modernize Russia “from above”). As Academician A. Panchenko showed in his series of studies devoted to this era, including in the book “Russian Culture on the Eve of Peter’s Reforms,” the main content of Peter’s modernization was the secularization of culture (i.e., its “secularization”), which destroyed the specific the semantic integrity of ancient Russian culture, which, despite many of its internal contradictions, was entirely religious and frozen as a system of ready-made standards, clichés, and forms of etiquette.

The pronounced dual faith of Ancient Rus' was quite organic, because it existed against the backdrop of the inter-confessional struggle between paganism and Christianity, and the ancient Russian culture was religiously integral and semantically unified, since the synthetic religious worldview connected all layers and components of culture into an indivisible, amorphous “all-unity”: differences, even the opposition of paganism and primitive Christianity, connected by the principles of complementarity (dual faith) and interpenetration, contributed to the formation of Orthodoxy as a nationally unique version of Christianity, based on the local, ethnic originality of East Slavic culture (in the form of its mythology and rituals) and the stable syncretism of the archaic picture the world of the Eastern Slavs.

Russian religious schism of the 17th century. divided the national religious consciousness in two and polarized Russian culture along religious principles (“old faith” and “new faith”), actually meaning the emergence of religious pluralism in the absence of mutual religious tolerance. Where pagan and Christian symbolism could unite on the basis of national-state and cultural-linguistic community, different interpretations of Orthodox rituals in conditions of national crisis and social instability led Russian society to ideological, ideological, socio-psychological and everyday confrontation and disintegration

sociocultural integrity into two largely mutually exclusive worlds (“Old Believers” and “Nikonians”). Peter's transformations made the sociocultural split of Rus' even more severe, irreconcilable and irreversible, and most importantly, multidimensional, developing simultaneously in several directions.

Being a logical continuation of the dramatic processes of the Russian religious schism of the 17th century, the period of Peter’s reforms, imbued with the pathos of secularization, divided the previously unified Russian culture (syncretistic “culture-faith”) into “culture” itself and “faith” itself (culture about faith), i.e., in fact, into two different basic cultures: secular (secular) and religious (spiritual). If even superficial discrepancies in the performance of religious rituals could split Orthodoxy as a confessional and spiritual unity, then the secularization of a completely religious and traditional culture could not but have even more destructive consequences for ancient Russian culture. Like any communal structure, ancient Russian civilization could not withstand the slightest violation of age-old traditions that appealed to the social harmony of society in the distant past: any, even private, modernization led to the collapse of the “unanimity” of society on a number of fundamental issues, to an increase in disagreements and conflicts, to extreme polarization of public opinion and inevitable split.

G. Fedotov, in his study “Saints of Ancient Rus',” referring to the lists of canonized saints compiled by academician E. Golubinsky, noted a consistent and sharp decrease, a “leakage” of holiness from Russian life. According to Fedotov, Peter only needed to destroy the dilapidated shell of Holy Rus': his “outrage” of old Russia met with insignificant spiritual resistance - ancient Russian life, devoid of holiness, became dead. This was, of course, not about the loss of some substantial quality or essential component of the whole (“holiness”), but about a change public relations to some traditional values, previously revered by the whole society, and later causing contradictory and even ambivalent attitudes.

Thus, Archpriest Avvakum, from the point of view of one, the most traditionalist part of Russian society, was an undoubted saint, a great martyr, who prophetically predicted his death for faith, ideological integrity and steadfastness in religious beliefs; for the other, more modernized part of the population, he was a dangerous blasphemer, a heretic, a troublemaker,

schismatic, opponent royal power and the ruling clergy, and therefore fully deserved to be burned. The same applied to other similar figures of that time: the priest Lazar, the monk Epiphanius, the deacon Fyodor, the noblewoman Theodosya Morozova and her sister Princess Evdokia Urusova, the wife of the Streltsy colonel Marya Danilova, etc. In Peter’s time there was a split not between two different faiths ( faith and heterodoxy), and between faith and unbelief, religion and irreligion - from the point of view of Ancient Rus', the difference is colossal!

Essentially, the recognition of religiosity itself as an optional, optional component of culture, the unambiguous separation of secular power from the church and the subordination of the church to the state were explosive factors in the dynamics of Russian culture. At the same time, the religious part of Russian culture actually went to the periphery of national-historical development and lost a number of previously irreplaceable semantic and regulatory functions (although for the majority of the population of Russia it remained the basis of life, was natural and familiar), and the newly formed secular, secular culture, on the contrary, it acquired more and more new and diverse functions and took root in the center of the official, state cultural and public life, taking on a self-sufficient character (although it was the culture of an educated minority, the noble elite). Thus, the opposition between the religious and the secular was complemented in Peter’s time by the opposition between the center and the periphery, the enlightened minority - the unenlightened majority, the targeted state cultural policy - spontaneous and spontaneous folk culture.

At the same time, the church reform carried out by Peter I, displacing the traditionally understood holiness and sacred values of the “Orthodox civilization” of Holy Rus' from state use, but objectively not having the opportunity (as well as the desire) to remove religiosity itself from life and Russian culture as such , thereby contributing to the sacralization of the most important secular institutions and cultural phenomena (including those that, in principle, were not included in the horizons of a believer and were understood more as the antipode of holiness than as its worldly analogue), which replaced the religious cult. This led, on the one hand, to the alienation of secular power from religion (up to its recognition as the power of the Antichrist, for example, by the Old Believers), on the other hand, to the generation and spread in the mass consciousness of a new and specific phenomenon for Russian culture - “secular holiness” ( Academician A. Panchenko), which consisted in extrapolating the attributes of cult holiness to non-religious objects and phenomena.

“Secular holiness” was expressed in such phenomena, different in nature and far removed from each other, as the political sacralization of the personality of the monarch (the cult of Peter I, Catherine II, etc.), the cult of the state and nation, the Russian army and navy and their military victories, state and national complacency, ideological sacralization of cultural classics (which clearly declared itself in relation to Russian literature already in the 18th, but especially in the 19th century: apology for the encyclopedism of M. Lomonosov, the poetic gift of G. Derzhavin, the historical and linguistic merits of N. Karamzin; aesthetic cult of A. Pushkin and the struggle for first place on the “literary Olympus”), the emergence and further intensification of critical and philosophical polemics aimed at the sacralization of certain ideas, norms, values, self-affirmation of the natural and human sciences - philosophy and the arts.

It was at this time that the ability of the “religious energy of the Russian soul” to switch and be directed towards goals that “are no longer religious” (N. Berdyaev), so characteristic of Russian culture in the future, began to take shape, i.e. towards social, scientific, artistic goals , political, etc., which clearly declared itself already in the passion of Russian socio-political and cultural figures of the 18th century. Freemasonry and non-confessional mysticism (A. Sumarokov, M. Shcherbatov, I. Elagin, I. Lopukhin, I. Turgenev, M. Kheraskov, V. Maykov, N. Novikov, I. Schwartz, A. Suvorov, Pavel I, etc. ). Academician A. Pypin, a researcher of Russian Freemasonry, noted that the wide spread of Freemasonry was popular among minds that “emerged from simple ignorance” and were still “little educated by real science.” Essentially, Freemasonry among domestic neophytes scientific thinking seemed to be a special kind of science, a form of secret knowledge about the world, being in fact a function of religious and often mythological consciousness, replacing the positive sciences and posing as such, presenting the irrational in a rational form and vice versa.

Subsequently, the “religious energy” of Russian culture manifested itself especially sharply in the atheistic and materialistic fanaticism of the common intelligentsia of the second half of the 19th century, in its passion for natural science, politics, technology - often fetishized and considered in isolation from the whole of culture as a kind of “non-religious religion”, or religion developing in isolation from its own substrate. In the same vein, the political extremism of Russian radicals, which began in the 18th century with theoretical assumptions, should be considered

(A. Radishchev), and by the 70s. XIX century turned into a terrorist movement. Subsequently, all pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary political passions, especially mass ones, were to one degree or another of a religious or religion-like nature (including “faith in a bright future”; the secular cult of state leaders and leaders; the likening of political parties to a religious community, church or sect fighting heresies , apostates, Satanism; assimilation of socialist theory to dogmatic doctrine, etc.).

The ideological pluralism of the 18th century, which arose as a result of a historically natural split in a single medieval culture. At first, it naturally fit into the baroque model of competition between various ideological tendencies and principles: in one semantic space, pessimism and optimism, asceticism and hedonism, “school” scholasticism and amateurism, didacticism and entertainment, etiquette and sensationalism collided in a tense dialogue-dispute (or eclectic chaos) , constancy and situationality, aestheticism and utilitarianism. However, characteristic of Russian civilization, starting from the end of the 16th century, “state-centrism” ultimately triumphed in the face of secular culture, which subjugated the elements of spiritual-religious culture (and in some part rejected them if it seemed that the latter was slowing down the renewal of Russia keeps it within the framework of the Middle Ages and church tradition). Subsequently, the religious specialization of culture became an increasingly narrow branch social activities, and in the Russian official morphology system XVIII culture V. – a peripheral and secondary area compared to science and art, literature and philosophy, teaching and education, technology and politics.

For the first time, the real (and striking!) pluralism of tastes and styles, values and norms, traditions and ideals acquired by Russian culture could not but be reflected in the everyday behavior of people of the 18th century, who, in comparison with the people of Ancient Rus', could develop and realize themselves with immeasurable to a greater extent potential freedom. However, this potential freedom was complicated by fundamentally new cultural functions both the phenomena of everyday life and the peculiarities of behavior that emerged as a result of Peter’s reforms. Essentially, a real revolution took place in the everyday behavior of the Russian nobility: it found itself inscribed in a different normative system and acquired a new cultural meaning.

Mixing of various forms of semiotics of behavior in the Peter the Great era (stylization and parody, ritual and shocking anti-ritual, formality

and “particularity” of behavior) against the backdrop of the national way of life, which was sharply different from the life of the nobility, sharpened the sense of style, which was indexed in different ways depending on the nature of the space (St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia and Europe, the Moscow estate “zaglaznoe”, etc. ), on social status (employee or retired, military or civilian, metropolitan or provincial, etc.). Various signs of behavior were differentiated accordingly: manner of speaking, gait, clothing, gestures, vocabulary, etc.

In Russian noble culture of the 18th century. a very ramified “stylistic polyphonism of everyday life” was taking shape (Yu. Lotman); the implementation of behavior in each specific case was carried out, as the scientist wrote, “as a result of choice”, as “one of the possible alternatives”; the life system of a Russian nobleman was built like “a certain tree.” Taking on a largely playful, deliberately artificial and “artistic” character, everyday behavior was built on models of “poetics of behavior”, borrowed” from certain works of art (literature, painting and theater), which prepared the cult of theater and theatricality in Russian culture at the beginning XIX century and at the same time the era of romanticism.

With the change in the place of religion in the picture of the world, the relationship between other parts and components of culture, its forms and categories has also changed. Thus, in the concept of the world, approved by Peter I, in the place of “beauty);

“benefit” is put; following the ideas of utilitarianism and utility, the “struggle against the inertia of words” began; the traditional priority for Ancient Rus' of the word, verbal etiquette (identified by reformers with inertia and stereotyped thinking) fades into the background before the authority of the thing, material production, natural and technical sciences; “in the cultural hierarchy the word gave way to the thing”, “weaving of words” replaced business style, burdened by bureaucratic red tape; the civil script introduced by Peter, opposed to Church Slavonic, finally separated secular bookishness from the religious and secular, non-religious culture as a whole - from the spiritual; the manuscript was supplanted by the newspaper, the medieval admiration for the “miracle” was replaced by “baroque sensationalism.”

The inevitable “decline of literature” under Peter was compensated by the information content of verbal works; the fight against verbal etiquette gave rise to the abolition of many prohibitions both in everyday behavior and in art;

new genres and styles in art were born, previously unimaginable (for example, the genre of travel, “historia”, “epistol”, Kantov, etc.); apotheosis of a thing

liberated the plot of literary and artistic works, which became more entertaining and dynamic; As a result of increased interest in things and the material side of reality, Russian culture was able to master new semantic areas and themes that were previously reserved for it. The reality of the world began to be described and interpreted more adequately and without correlation with the age-old ideals of religion and traditional ethics and aesthetics; life and everyday experience became a constant subject of reflection in literature and art. The literature of Peter the Great's time did not give rise to its own artistic style, but reality in all its breadth and boundlessness became its field of vision.

Fundamentally new phenomena, unthinkable within the framework of traditional Russian culture, were - as a result of Peter's reforms - libraries and a public theater, the Kunstkamera (the first museum, a collection of material rarities) and the Academy of Sciences, parks and park sculpture, palace and estate architecture and the navy. The apotheosis of things and the fight against the “inertia of the word” were associated in the Peter the Great era with the abolition of numerous prohibitions in culture, social life and everyday life, characteristic of the Middle Ages, with the acquisition of a new level of spiritual freedom (oriented towards dynamic events open to the future - in contrast to the ancient Russian ideas about culture as a universal, timeless continuum - an “echo of eternity” facing the past), with the development of new subject areas and meanings. Art develops primarily as occasional, that is, created “on occasion” (verses and theatrical performances, architectural structures and portraits, songs and cants, thematic sermons and butts). The reason could be different - military victory, namesake, day of accession to the throne, etc.

Overcoming staticity and normativity, Russian culture of the 18th century. began to be imbued with the principle of historicism: history is now perceived not as predestination, not as frozen eternity or a constantly reproduced standard, not as the ideal of the universe (which was characteristic of ancient Russian culture), but as an illustration and a lesson to contemporaries, as a result of human participation in the course of events, the result conscious actions and actions of people, as the progressive movement of the world from the past to the future. History now appears as memory, as an artificial “resurrection” of the past (for the purposes of education or edification, for the sake of comprehension, analysis of the experience gained or repulsion from the past), as an “application” to the present, as a “lesson” to the present; at the same time, an orientation of Russian culture towards the future is born,

its appeal to ideas and attitudes of development, rather than maintaining dynamics, and the desired stability. Hence the development in the 18th century. professional scientific interest in the study of national history - the formation of national history as a science (V. Tatishchev, M. Lomonosov, G. Miller, M. Shcherbatov, I. Boltin, A. Shlozer, etc.) and the experience of its artistic comprehension in poetry and prose and dramaturgy (A. Sumarokov, M. Kheraskov, Y. Knyazhnin, N. Karamzin, etc.).

The first ideas about social and cultural progress appear as the progressive movement of society forward, its development and improvement - from lower forms to higher ones, from barbarism to civilization. Comparison from this point of view becomes constant different countries and peoples, different cultures, and above all the comparison of Russia with Europe, and often not in favor of Russia. Overcoming Russia's lag in various social and cultural aspects comes to the forefront of Peter's policy. The very introduction of certain cultural innovations is dictated precisely by the tasks of eliminating cultural backwardness.

Instead of reproducing the amount eternal ideas and the representation of culture, from the point of view of the Middle Ages, as a phenomenon that has a timeless and universal meaning - on the eve of the Peter the Great era, and even more so in the process of Peter the Great’s transformations, the idea of the infinity of history arose and strengthened, culture began to be perceived as a flow of innovation, as a continuous renewal of norms and traditions, ideals and forms of activity, as human creativity aimed at transforming the environment and society, filling leisure time and the spiritual world of a person with various values of non-confessional and non-religious origin. At the same time, man laid down his “rights to history” and tried to master it, in practice abolishing the distinction between eternity and mortal existence. For this reason, in the culture of Peter the Great’s time, mediating cultural links developed, blurring the semantic line between the Absolute and everyday life, Being and everyday life and forming a continuous chain. So, in the 18th century. science and art, philosophy and theological thought, education and technical creativity, that is, specialized forms of culture that develop autonomously from each other and independently of their cultural whole, which is increasingly fragmented and differentiated.

It was from this moment, that is, actually starting from Peter’s reforms, that “nuclear” processes in Russian culture occur with the ever-increasing participation of scientific-discursive thinking with its logical-conceptual reflection

reality and culture itself. Considering that science and scientific activity, as such, did not exist in Ancient Rus', and “learning” itself was understood as erudition, involvement in book knowledge and a narrow circle of educated people, then the emergence of scientific discourse in Russian culture should be qualified as a truly revolutionary shift in people’s consciousness. However, in relation to Russian culture of the 18th – early 19th centuries. in general, science and scientificity, positive knowledge in general - with all its offensive activity and expansion of the sphere of its cultural influence - still did not occupy a leading position in Russian culture.

A skeptical attitude towards science, scholarship, education, religious prejudices against science and science were widespread among the majority of nobles and served as the subject of satirical depiction and ridicule not only in the satires of A. Kantemir, the fables and epigrams of A. Sumarokov, but also in the comedies of D. Fonvizin, Catherine II herself. Apology for science and scholarship by V. Trediakovsky, M. Lomonosov and other figures of Russian culture of the 18th century. only restored the balance of the position of science in the era of the Russian Enlightenment, requiring colossal intellectual and literary efforts for this alone. Great place V official culture of that time, starting with the comedies of Catherine II herself (“O Time!”, “The Deceiver,” “The Seduced One,” “The Siberian Shaman”) and ending with the writings of professional writers, the focus was on exposing superstitions and religious hypocrisy, contrary to common sense and interfering with the fulfillment of civil rights by the nobility responsibilities and public service. An appeal to science and public opinion, gradually gaining authority and semantic significance in Russian society.

Only in the second half of the 19th century. in Russian culture the social status of science and scientist begins to be established; positivist methodology of scientific knowledge, addressed to various subjects; natural scientific approaches to knowledge in general, including humanitarian knowledge (philosophy, history, aesthetics, literary and artistic criticism, and even art itself with the strengthening status and authority of realism); for the first time in the history of Russian culture, philosophy (in the person of V. Solovyov and his followers) acquires systematized, logical-conceptual forms, comparable to classical German and Western European philosophy in general. At least a century and a half has passed since the appearance of scientific discourse in Russian culture, until science has become not just an integral part of Russian culture, but also the main direction of its development

One way or another, with the beginning of Peter’s reforms in Russia, a situation of sociocultural revolution arose. The principle of unlimited freedom began to dominate in Russian culture, the overcoming of dilapidated norms and patterns triumphed, cultural values, ideas and style of cultural works, and forms of everyday behavior began to transform in an almost revolutionary manner; new rituals and traditions began to be introduced, while the old ones were rejected and ridiculed; The culture of life has changed - all this, of course, within the framework of the life of a rather narrow circle of European educated people. The presence of substantive and formal “novelty” became a mandatory requirement of the Russian “Age of Enlightenment.”

All these sociocultural metamorphoses came into sharp and painful contradictions with cultural canons and social attitudes pre-Petrine Rus'. A quick and unprepared “breaking” of the cultural paradigm, which was carried out for the first time in Russian history, led to a strictly antinomic confrontation between two largely mutually exclusive value systems - ancient Russian and pan-European (in the Russian interpretation) - and the deepening of socio-cultural contradictions in Russia in modern times. However, there was such a meaningful (civilizational) principle that united the era of Ancient Rus' and new Russia; this beginning was the idea of a strong, centralized, despotic state - an idea equally relevant for Moscow and Petrine Rus'.

Petrine reforms in the field of culture and their significance

The transformations started by Peter caused the economic growth of Russia and allowed it to significantly expand its territory - due to the annexation of Crimea, Northern Black Sea region, the North Caucasus and western lands, turned it into a great and powerful empire. Thanks to victories in the Northern and Turkish wars, Russia received the status of a Baltic and Black Sea power. New ones have arisen in it big cities- St. Petersburg, which became the capital of the state, Sevastopol, Ekaterinoslav, Ekaterinodar, Ekaterinburg, Odessa, etc.

The figure of Peter is also exceptionally complex and ambiguous. He had incredible willpower, inexhaustible energy, a strong and persistent character, and was gifted with many talents. His vigorous activity rested not only on will, but also on broad knowledge, rich practical experience. Peter was a man of high culture. He knew two foreign languages (Dutch and German), was fluent in 14 crafts, had a sharp mind and imaginative thinking, and was endowed with a strong aesthetic sense.

Peter regretted that he could not work with both hands at the same time: hold right hand sword, and in the left - a feather. This would allow him to do much more. He believed that the purpose of the state is internal and external security, and it should find its glory in art and science. While turning Russia to the West, he did not renounce national culture and ancient traditions. He showed deep respect for the past, which was expressed in the construction of new churches, in special veneration for the work of Alexander Nevsky, whose remains were transferred to St. Petersburg, to the Nevsky Lavra specially built for this purpose.

Although the era of “enlightened absolutism” in Russia is associated with Catherine 2, in fact it was Peter who was the real enlightened monarch. The same can be said in relation to the West. Europe did not know such a ruler as Peter, although the concept of “enlightened absolutism” is usually attributed to it. Peter was rightly called the “northern giant.” Emphasizing the scale of his outstanding personality, Pushkin noted that Peter “alone is the whole world history.”

At the same time, his personality was not without extremes. In his actions, will and arbitrariness sometimes prevailed over measure and reason. He began some of his reforms without proper preparation, and during their implementation he allowed excessive haste and impatience. His favorite expressions were “don’t hesitate”, “do this immediately.” Peter's maximalism and uncompromisingness sometimes turned into wild rage and merciless cruelty. This happened even in relation to his loved ones, in particular to his son Alexei.

In 1711, instead of the former large Boyar Duma (up to 900 people), Peter 1 established a Senate consisting of 9 people appointed by the Tsar himself. The criterion for selection to the Senate was only business qualities, and previous hereditary privileges were not taken into account. The Senate acted as the highest body in matters of legislation and public administration.

The previously existing orders were replaced by 12 boards (ministries) in charge of individual areas of public administration. The country was divided into provinces and districts. Thanks to these innovations, the state reached the highest degree of centralization and turned into an absolute monarchy.

The Church lost part of its lands and income, which significantly weakened it economic fundamentals. The clergy was charged with the duty not only to promote the ongoing reforms, but also to help the authorities in identifying and detaining opponents of the reforms. They were even required to violate the secrecy of confession: under pain of execution, priests had to report the intentions of those confessing to commit a state crime. As a result of all these measures, the Church became nationalized. She found herself in complete dependence from secular power.

The Petrine era created favorable conditions for reviving the economy. Russia is beginning to actively develop industrial production. The number of weaving and textile enterprises, especially those producing cloth and wool, is rapidly growing in the country. The Urals becomes a center for the smelting of metal, which has been exported abroad since the 20s of the 18th century. Industrial production of porcelain was organized for the first time.

Significant progress is observed in all material culture, in technology and technology. The Ural heating engineer Polzunov developed a project for a universal steam engine and built a steam power plant, ahead of the English inventor Watt. A self-taught mechanic, ahead of the English inventor Watt. A self-taught mechanic, Kulibin invented many mechanisms - a clock, a searchlight, a semaphore telegraph, and developed a design for a bridge across the Neva. In agriculture, a scythe is used instead of a sickle, stud farms are created, and cattle breeding is successfully developing. Peter 1 attached great importance to trade, calling it “the supreme owner of human destiny,” and contributed in every possible way to its development. On his initiative, large fairs are organized, canals are built: Vyshnevolotsky was built, construction of the Volga-Don canal began.

The 18th century was the time of the creation in Russia of a system of secular education and science, which had previously been practically absent. The profound transformations taking place in all areas of public life acutely raised the problem of raising the cultural and educational level of the population, which could not be solved without a wide network of new educational institutions. In 1701, a Navigation School was opened on the Sukharev Tower in Moscow, which in 1715 was transferred to St. Petersburg, where the Naval Academy was created on its basis. A little later, several more schools similar to the Navigation School appeared - Engineering, Artillery and Medical.

In 1703, Gluck's private secondary school was opened in Moscow, with the task of training personnel for scientific activities. Digital schools formed the basis of primary education in provincial cities. In special schools they prepared for contractors various kinds officials. At the largest manufactories - in the Urals and other places - vocational schools were opened. In 1722, the first commercial school appeared.

The St. Petersburg Academy, created on the initiative of Peter and opened in 1725, played a major role in the formation and development of science. Initially, the Academy consisted mainly of foreign scientists who expressed a desire to work in Russia. Many of them were world famous: mathematicians Euler and Bernoulli, physicist Epinus, botanist Pallas. The first Russian academicians were the geographer and Krasheninnikov, the naturalist and traveler Lepekhin, the astronomer Rumovsky and others.

The most important milestone in the formation and development of Russian science was the founding of Moscow University in 1755. Initially it had three faculties: philosophy, medicine and law. Then it quickly became the largest center for training specialists in all branches of knowledge. In 1783, the Russian Academy of Sciences was created, with Princess Dashkova becoming its first president. The Academy also played a huge role in the development of domestic science. Her first big one scientific achievement was the six-volume Dictionary of the Russian Academy, which contained interpretations of the main scientific terms and concepts. In general, we can rightfully say that over the course of one century, Russian science has made a powerful leap forward. Starting almost from scratch, she was able to rise to the world level.

A major Russian thinker of the 18th century was Feofan Prokopovich, a contemporary and associate of Peter. In his works (“The Tale of the Tsar’s Power and Honor,” “The Truth of the Monarchs’ Will,” etc.), he develops the Russian version of the concept of enlightened absolutism. Building on European ideas of natural law, social contract and the common good and combining them with Russian characteristics, Prokopovich, being an admirer of Peter, glorified his deeds in every possible way and presented him as an example of an enlightened monarch. He was also the ideologist of the reform of the Church, substantiating the need for its subordination to the state.

An interesting and profound self-taught thinker was Pososhkov, the author of “The Book of Poverty and Wealth.” Being a supporter of Peter, he at the same time stood in opposition to the nobility, expressing and defending the interests of the peasantry, merchants and artisans.

The works of Tarishchev, the first major Russian historian who wrote “Russian History from the Most Ancient Times,” are devoted to understanding Russia’s past. In it he traces the history of Russia from Rurik to Peter 1.

Profound changes affected not only the considered areas of culture, but also the entire way of everyday life. Here one of the main changes was associated with the introduction of a new chronology and calendar. By decree of Peter, instead of the previous counting of years from the “Creation of the World,” it was henceforth ordered to count years from the Nativity of Christ, that is, from January 1, 1700, as was customary in European countries. True, Europe used the Gregorian calendar, and in Russia the Julian was introduced. According to Peter's decree, a new tradition was established - to also celebrate the “New Year and the Centennial Century”, decorating the gates of houses with pine, spruce and juniper branches, arranging shooting, games and fun.

According to another decree of Peter, a new form of communication between people was introduced - assemblies. Representatives of the upper classes of society gathered at them to relax and have fun dancing, casual conversations, and playing chess and checkers. The daily life of the court nobility also included the tradition of bilingualism. Under Peter and Anna, the German language spread, and starting with Elizabeth, French. The influence of French culture was also manifested in the fact that ladies of noble society began to play music on the harpsichord.

Peter's reforms radically changed not only the political, but also the cultural situation in Russia. The change in fundamental cultural guidelines (East-West), the subordination of the church to the interests of the state, the promotion of the service class to the first place instead of the clan nobility - all these factors also determined the need for radical reforms in the field of education: the country, in the new conditions of its historical existence, needed professionals. In this regard, the organization of special vocational schools - Navigatskaya, Mining and others, and subsequently the opening of the Academy of Sciences, the founding of St. Petersburg and Moscow universities, the Academy of Arts, the Noble Corps, the Smolny Institute - all this major milestones in the history of our country.

XVIII century brought the new capital, St. Petersburg, to the forefront of Russian and European life. This city itself has become the most characteristic cultural and historical monument of the era. The city, built in the “blink of an eye” by the whim of its creator “to spite an arrogant neighbor,” was a miracle of the creative capabilities of not only famous architects, but also unknown Russian serf builders, most of whom never had a chance to see what they built under the convict regime works However, created in such a short time and inhuman conditions, moreover, with the involvement of architects of the most diverse national origins, art schools and tastes, St. Petersburg, nevertheless, was distinguished by a surprisingly integral artistic appearance.

The talents of the Frenchman E. Falcone, the Italians V.V. Rastrelli, D. Trezzini, G. Quarenghi, C.I. Rossi, the Swiss G.I. Mattarnovi, the Englishmen C. Cameron and A. Menelas, the Scotsman L. Ruski, Russian nuggets from A.V. Kvasov to A.D. Zakharov - merged together for the glory of Peter and his plans, for the glory of Russia, which was becoming a great empire.

The artistic expression of the era was the evolution from a lush, fanciful, sometimes pretentious baroque, which, however, differed from the European one, by much greater warmth and a certain continuity with the cultural traditions of the pre-Petrine era (for example, the famous church in Fili) to a strict, measured, ordered classicism, which, however, did not affect , a deeply Russian socio-cultural aura, but which forced only a slight Europeanization of the facades of ancient Russian cities, and finally, at the end of the century - to the most fashionable at that time in the West, touching chamber sentimentalism. What is of undoubted interest to us here is that if the Baroque in its mature, classical examples appeared in our country only in the second quarter of the 18th century. In connection with the construction of the stylistically consistent, luxurious Winter Palace (architect V. Rastrelli), which meant a delay of about 100 years compared to Europe, classicism as the dominant artistic style established itself at the beginning of the reign of Catherine II, while in Europe it still continued his dominion, although he was already leaving the stage. And finally, sentimentalism, like all subsequent artistic styles, experienced all stages of its development in Russia almost simultaneously with the European powers. Thus, the mechanism launched by Peter contributed to the country’s extremely rapid overcoming of cultural backwardness, at least in its external forms.

However, in terms of content, Russian science, culture, and art made a giant leap during this period. Constant contacts with the countries of Western Europe, primarily with Germany, France, Italy, led to the successful interaction and interpenetration of the Old Russian and European cultural traditions. So, for example, D.I. Fonvizin followed the canons of French classical comedy, but created a completely Russian, primarily in language, characters, and humor, story about the Skotinins, who gave birth to Mitrofanushka.

Of course, as has been rightly noted many times, borrowing was sometimes slavish, which seems quite natural, given the nature and pace of Peter’s transformations and what is generally characteristic of the period of formation of secular national cultures (and Russia was going through just such a period).

By a special decree of Peter in 1718, assemblies were introduced, representing a new form of communication between people in Russia. At the assemblies, the nobles danced and communicated freely, unlike previous feasts and feasts. Thus, noble women were able to join cultural leisure and public life for the first time.

The reforms carried out by Peter I affected not only politics, economics, but also art. Peter invited foreign artists to Russia and at the same time sent talented young people to study “art” abroad, mainly to Holland and Italy. In the second quarter of the 18th century. “Peter’s pensioners” began to return to Russia, bringing with them new artistic experience and acquired skills.

Gradually, a different system of values, worldview, and aesthetic ideas took shape in the ruling environment.

"Golden Age" of Russian culture

Russia in the 19th century made a truly giant leap in the development of culture and made an enormous contribution to world culture. This rise of Russian culture was due to a number of factors. First of all, it was associated with the process of formation of the Russian nation in the critical era of transition from feudalism to capitalism, with the growth of national self-awareness and was its expression. Of great importance was the fact that the rise of Russian national culture coincided with the beginning of the revolutionary liberation movement in Russia.

An important factor that contributed to the intensive development of Russian culture was its close communication and interaction with other cultures. The world revolutionary process and advanced Western European social thought influenced strong influence and on the culture of Russia. This was the heyday of German classical philosophy and French utopian socialism, whose ideas were widely popular in Russia. We should not forget the influence of the heritage of Muscovite Rus' on the culture of the 19th century. the assimilation of old traditions made it possible to sprout new shoots of creativity in literature, poetry, painting and other spheres of culture. N. Gogol, N. Leskov, P. Melnikov-Pechersky, F. Dostoevsky and others created their works in the traditions of ancient Russian religious culture. But the work of other geniuses of Russian literature, whose attitude to Orthodox culture is more controversial - from A. Pushkin and L. Tolstoy - bears an indelible stamp testifying to Orthodox roots. Of great interest are the paintings of M. Nesterov, M. Vrubel, K. Petrov-Vodkin, the origins of whose creativity go back to Orthodox icon painting. Ancient church singing (the famous chant) became a striking phenomenon in the history of musical culture.

Russian culture accepted the best achievements of the cultures of other countries and peoples, without losing its originality and, in turn, influencing the development of other cultures. All this made it possible to call the first third of the 19th century the “golden age” of Russian culture.

Literature is becoming the leading area of Russian culture, which was facilitated primarily by its close connection with a progressive liberation ideology. Pushkin's ode "Liberty", his "Message to Siberia" to the Decembrists and "Response" to this message of the Decembrist Odoevsky, Ryleev's satire "To the Temporary Worker" (Arakcheev), Lermontov's poem "On the Death of a Poet", Belinsky's letter to Gogol were, in essence, , political pamphlets, militant, revolutionary appeals that inspired progressive youth. The spirit of opposition and struggle inherent in the works of progressive writers in Russia made Russian literature of that time one of the active social forces.

Even against the backdrop of all the richest world classics, Russian literature XIX century - an exceptional phenomenon. One could say that it is like the Milky Way, clearly visible in a star-strewn sky, if some of the writers who made its fame did not look more like dazzling luminaries or independent “universes.” Just the names of A, Pushkin, M. Lermontov, N. Gogol, F. Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy immediately evoke ideas about vast artistic worlds, a multitude of ideas and images that are refracted in their own way in the minds of more and more generations of readers. The impressions produced by this “golden age” of Russian literature were perfectly expressed by T. Mann, speaking of its “extraordinary internal unity and integrity,” “the close cohesion of its ranks, the continuity of its traditions.” We can say that Pushkin's poetry and Tolstoy's prose are a miracle; It is no coincidence that Yasnaya Polyana is the intellectual capital of the world.

A. Pushkin was the founder of Russian realism, his novel in verse “Eugene Onegin”, which V. Belinsky called the encyclopedia of Russian life, was the highest expression of realism in the work of the great poet. Outstanding examples of realistic literature are the historical drama “Boris Godunov”, the story “ Captain's daughter”, “Dubrovsky”, etc. Pushkin’s global significance is associated with the awareness of the universal significance of the tradition he created. He paved the way for the literature of M. Lermontov, N. Gogol, I. Turgenev, L. Tolstoy, F. Dostoevsky and A. Chekhov, which rightfully became not only a fact of Russian culture, but also the most important moment in the spiritual development of mankind.

Pushkin's traditions were continued by his younger contemporary and successor M. Lermontov. The novel “A Hero of Our Time,” which is in many ways consonant with Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin,” is considered the pinnacle of Lermontov’s realism.

The truly titanic character of the moral quest of another great Russian writer, F.M., is striking. Dostoevsky, who, unlike Tolstoy, does not provide an analysis of epic proportions. He does not describe what is happening, he forces us to “go underground” in order to see what is really happening, he forces us to see ourselves in ourselves. Thanks to the amazing ability to penetrate into the most human soul Dostoevsky was one of the first, if not the very first, to describe modern nihilism. His characterization of this state of mind is indelible, and it still fascinates the reader with its depth and inexplicable precision.

In the 19th century, along with the stunning development of literature, the brightest upsurges of the musical culture of Russia were observed, and music and literature interacted, which enriched certain artistic images. If, for example, Pushkin in his poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila” gave an organic solution to the idea of national patriotism, finding appropriate national forms, then M. Glinka discovered new, potential options in Pushkin’s magical fairy-tale heroic plot and modernized it, as if offering another romantic version of the epic, with its characteristic “universal” scale and “reflective” heroes.

Gogol’s stories formed the basis of the operas “May Night” and “The Night Before Christmas” by N. Rimsky-Korsakov, “Sorochinskaya Fair” by M. Mussorgsky, “Blacksmith Vakula” (“Cherevichki”) by P. Tchaikovsky, etc. Rimsky-Korsakov created a whole “fairy-tale” world of operas: from “ May night" and "The Snow Maiden" to "Sadko", for which the common thing is a certain ideal world in its harmony.

The flourishing of Russian musical culture was facilitated by the creativity of P. The “sign” of the time was the strengthening lyrical beginning in musical culture.

N. Rimsky-Korsakov, who then acted as the main guardian of the creative ideas of the famous “mighty handful” (it included M. Balakirev, M. Mussorgsky, P. Cui, A. Borodin, N. Rimsky-Korsakov), created the opera “The Tsar’s Lady”, full of lyricism bride".

Russian culture in the second half of the 19th century gained European and world fame, and cultural exchange between Russia and Europe acquired a bilateral character.

"Silver Age" of Russian culture

In the history of Russian culture, the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. received the name of the “Silver Age” of Russian culture, which begins with the “World of Art” and ends with Acmeism. “World of Art” is an organization that emerged in 1898 and united masters of the highest artistic culture, the artistic elite of Russia at that time. Almost all famous artists participated in this association - A. Benois, K. Somov, L. Bakst, E. Lanceray, A. Golovin, M. Dobuzhinsky, M. Vrubel, V. Serov, K. Korovin, I. Levitan, M Nesterov, N. Roerich, B. Kustodiev, K. Petrov-Vodkin, F. Malyavin, M. Larionov, N. Goncharova and others.

Of great importance for the formation of the “World of Arts” was the personality of S. Diaghilev, a philanthropist and organizer of exhibitions, and subsequently an impresario of tours of Russian ballet and opera abroad, the so-called “Russian Seasons”.

Thanks to Diaghilev’s activities, Russian art received a wide international recognition. The “Russian Seasons” organized by him in Paris are among the landmark events in the history of Russian music, painting, opera and ballet. In 1906, the Parisians were presented with the exhibition “Two Centuries of Russian Painting and Sculpture,” which was then exhibited in Berlin and Venice. This was the first act of pan-European recognition of the “World of Art”, as well as the discovery of Russian painting of the 18th - early 20th centuries. in general for Western criticism and a real triumph of Russian art. Next year, Paris could get acquainted with Russian music from Glinka to Scriabin. In 1906, our brilliant singer F. Chaliapin performed here with exceptional success, performing the role of Tsar Boris in Mussorgsky’s opera “Boris Godunov”. Finally, in 1909, the “Russian Seasons” of ballet began in Paris, which lasted for several years (until 1912).

The “Russian Seasons” is associated with the flourishing of creativity of many figures in the field of music, painting and dance. One of the greatest innovators of Russian ballet at the beginning of the 20th century. There was M. Fokin, who affirmed dramaturgy as the ideological basis of a ballet performance and sought, through the “commonwealth of dance, music and painting,” to create a psychologically meaningful and truthful image. In many ways, Fokine’s views are close to the aesthetics of Soviet ballet. The choreographic sketch “The Dying Swan” to the music of the French composer Saint-Saëns, created by him for Anna Pavlova, captured in the drawing by V. Serov, became a symbol of Russian classical ballet.

Under the editorship of Diaghilev, from 1899 to 1904, the magazine “World of Art” was published, which consisted of two departments: artistic and literary. In the last department, first works of a religious and philosophical nature were published, edited by D. Merezhkovsky and Z. Gippius, and then works on the theory of symbolist aesthetics, led by A. Bely and V. Bryusov. In the editorial articles of the first issues of the magazine, the main provisions of the “miriskusniks” about the autonomy of art were clearly formulated, that the problems of contemporary art and culture in general are exclusively problems of artistic form and that the main task of art is education aesthetic tastes Russian society, primarily through acquaintance with works of world art. We must give them their due: thanks to the “World of Art” students, English and German art was truly appreciated in a new way, and most importantly, Russian painting of the 18th century became a discovery for many. and architecture of St. Petersburg classicism. We can say that the “Silver Age” of Russian culture is a century of high-ranking culture and virtuosity, a culture of recollection of previous Russian culture, a culture of quotation. Russian culture of this time is a synthesis of the old noble and common cultures. A significant contribution of the World of Art is the organization of a grandiose historical exhibition of Russian painting from icon painting to modern times abroad.

Closely connected with the sphere of artistic culture of the “Silver Age” is such a phenomenon as philanthropy - selfless material aid artists or individuals, or entire organizations and corporations.

In the first row of Russian patrons of art, of course, is the name of P.M. Tretyakov, Moscow merchant and industrialist. Beginning in 18556, he systematically bought the best works of Russian painters and created a rich art gallery, which in 1893 he donated to Moscow.

Another major patron of national art was the wealthy merchant, builder of the Northern Railway S.I. Mamontov. In 1870, Mamontov acquired the Abramtsevo estate near Moscow. Prominent representatives of Russian culture subsequently gathered in this house.

Great Russian painters - V. Serov, V. Polenov, I. Repin, K. Korovin, M. Vrubel, V. Vasnetsov - created here. It was here that many masterpieces of Russian fine art were born.

The Moscow private Russian opera, which Mamontov founded with his own money, was a phenomenon of Russian culture. The activities of composers Ippolitov-Ivanov, Kalinnikov, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov are connected with it; artists Vrubel, Korovin, Malyutin, Somov.

The theater promoted, first of all, the work of Russian composers and the best foreign classics. The aesthetic orientation of private opera was most fully expressed in the work of the brilliant Russian singer F.I. Chaliapin, who received his first recognition here.

A well-known philanthropist of the Silver Age is A. Bakhrushin, a collector of theatrical antiquities, the creator of a private literary and theatrical museum.

Among the Russian patrons of the arts, the name of the largest “calico” manufacturer and “textile king” S.I. stood out. Morozova. He was a big theater lover. It was with his funds - and this was a lot of money at that time - about half a million rubles - that the Moscow Art Theater was built. And in the future, Morozov provided every possible assistance to this, and other theaters, in staging performances. He also helped individual actors financially. Close to the democratically minded artistic intelligentsia, Morozov then became imbued with sympathy for the workers, became close to the revolutionaries, began to provide them with financial assistance, entering into a sharp conflict with both the authorities and people in his circle and relatives. Which ultimately led to Morozov committing suicide.

The most prominent direction at the turn of the century was symbolism - a multifaceted phenomenon that did not fit into the framework of “pure” doctrine. Foundation stone directions are a symbol that replaces an image and unites the Platonic kingdom of ideas with the world of the artist’s inner experience. Among the most prominent Western representatives of symbolism or closely associated with it are Mallarmé, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Verhaeren, Maeterlinck, Rilke.

Russian symbolists - A. Blok, A. Bely, Vyach. Ivanov, F. Sollogub, I. Annensky, K. Balmont and others - relied on philosophical ideas from Kant to Schopenhauer, from Nietzsche to Vl. Solovyov and revered Tyutchev’s line “a thought expressed is a lie” as their favorite aphorism. Russian symbolists believed that “ideal impulses of the spirit” would not only lift them above the veil of everyday life and reveal the transcendental essence of existence, but would also crush “extreme materialism,” equivalent to “titanic philistinism.” Symbolist poets were united by common features of worldview and poetic language. Along with the demands of “pure”, “free” art, the Symbolists emphasized individualism, reaching the point of narcissism, and glorified the mysterious world; The theme of “spontaneous genius”, close in spirit to Nietzsche’s “superman”, is close to them. “And I want, but I am not able to love people. “I am a stranger among them,” said Merezhkovsky. “I need something that is not in the world,” Gippius echoed him. “The day of the end of the Universe will come. And only the world of dreams is eternal,” said Bryusov.

Symbolism expanded and enriched the poetic possibilities of verse, which was caused by the desire of poets to convey the unusualness of their worldview “with just sounds, just images, just rhymes” (Bryusov).

Beauty was considered by the symbolists as the key to the secrets of nature, the idea of goodness and the entire universe, providing the opportunity to penetrate into the realm of the beyond, as a sign of otherness that can be deciphered in art. Hence the idea of the artist as a demiurge, creator and ruler. Poetry was assigned the role of religion, joining which allows one to see with “invisible eyes” the irrational world, metaphysically appearing as “obvious beauty.” By the end of the tenth years of the XX century. Symbolism internally exhausted itself as a holistic movement, leaving a deep mark in various spheres of Russian culture.

The end of the 19th - the beginning of the 20th century. is the Russian philosophical Renaissance, the “golden age” of Russian philosophy. It is significant to note that the philosophical thought of the Silver Age of Russian culture, which represents a golden nugget, itself came into being as a successor and continuer of the traditions of Russian classical literature. According to R.A. Galtseva, “... in Russian culture there is something like a literary and philosophical relay race, and even more broadly - a relay race of art and philosophy, from the sphere of artistic contemplation the accumulated power is transferred here to the field philosophical understanding and vice versa". This is exactly how the relationship developed between Russian classics and the philosophical revival of the end of the century, which is represented by the names of Vl. Solovyova, V. Rozanova, S. Bulgakova, N. Berdyaeva, L. Shestova, G. Fedotova, S. Frank and others.

The successor of Russian literature turns out to be philosophical thought; it inherits the spiritual legacy of the “golden age” of the classics and therefore itself experiences the “golden age”.

In conclusion, it should be noted that in the pre-revolutionary years, cultural, literary, thinking Russia was completely ready for war and revolution. During this period, everything was mixed up: apathy, despondency, decadence - and the expectation of new disasters. Bearers of Russian culture of the “Silver Age”, who criticized bourgeois civilization and advocated democratic development humanity (N. Berdyaev, Vl. Soloviev, etc.), lived in a huge country as if on a desert island. Russia did not know literacy - the entire world culture was concentrated among the intelligentsia: they quoted the Greeks by heart, were fond of French symbolists, considered Scandinavian literature theirs, knew philosophy and theology, poetry and the history of the whole world. And in this sense, the Russian intelligentsia was the custodian of the cultural museum of humanity, and Russia was the Rome of decline, the Russian intelligentsia did not live, but contemplated all the most refined things that happened in life, it was not afraid of any words, it was cynical and unchaste in the realm of spirit, in life is sluggish and inactive. In a certain sense, the Russian intelligentsia made a revolution in the minds of people before revolutions in society - the soil of the old tradition was dug up so deeply, mercilessly and disastrously, such bold projects for the future were outlined. And the revolution broke out, having an ambiguous impact on Russian culture.

Russian art of the 18th century

Features of the development of Russia in the 18th century.

In the history of Russian art, the eighteenth century represents turning point, in which profound changes in all spheres of public life played a huge role. Russia began the century as a medieval, backward country, and by the end it came to be a strong, developed power that actively influenced the destinies of many countries and peoples. Over several decades, at the cost of enormous stress In its development, Russia has gone through a path that other countries have traveled in two or three centuries. Peter's reforms were aimed at Europeanizing all aspects of Russian life. The reforms affected Russian culture, which, although it maintained continuity with the traditions of Moscow Rus', nevertheless took on a new look, focusing on European standards.

“Having opened a window to Europe,” Russia came face to face with the Age of Enlightenment, the ideals of which had a decisive influence on the formation of Russian culture. The enlighteners saw the path to a new just society in educating the people, instilling in people independence of judgment, inner freedom, feelings of self-esteem. The essence of educational ideas in Europe was the denial of the values of the old feudal society and the call for its destruction in order to create a new bourgeois system.

In serf Russia, educational ideas came into conflict with the serfdom system and the despotic state. Russian “enlightened absolutism” did not affect serfdom. New ideas were embodied in the work of serf artists, musicians, actors and architects, who became educated people, but at the same time remained the property of their masters. Thus, the ideals of justice, freedom and equality, proclaimed by the Enlightenment, collided with Russian reality. At the same time, without noble patronage it was impossible for the formation and development of Russian theater, ballet art, choral music, home portrait galleries and a Russian noble estate. This contradictory nature of Russian culture found its expression in the art of the 18th century.

The result of the spread of Enlightenment ideas in Russia was the division of previously unified Russian art into secular and religious. The religious part of Russian culture moved to its periphery, while the secular part took root in the center of cultural and social life. This was facilitated by the official policy, which placed the interests of the state above the interests of religion and turned the church into part of the state machine.

During the development of Russian artistic culture in the 18th century. The following periods can be distinguished: first period covers the end of the XVII – the first two decades of the XVIII centuries. and is associated with the reforms of Peter the Great. This is a time of a sharp change in Russian culture, the active introduction of European educational ideas into it, and the formation of secular art. Second The period falls on the 30-50s. XVIII century . and is associated with the reign of Anna Ioannovna and the daughter of Peter the Great, Elizabeth. In art, this time found its expression in the Baroque style. Third period associated with the reign of Catherine II (60-90s of the 18th century). It became the culmination of the Russian Enlightenment. In artistic culture, this is the heyday of Russian classicism.

Art of the era of Peter the Great and post-Petrine reforms

Beginning of the 18th century was marked by the reforms of Peter the Great, designed to eliminate the gap in the level of development of Russia and Europe, to bring Russia into the ranks of the leading European states . Peter created a regular army and navy, conquered the Baltic, created a state apparatus, a manufacturing industry, a network of universities and schools, and increased the state budget by 3 times. Russia didn’t have all this. The rapid growth of industry required a large number of competent specialists, which served as an impetus for the development of a system of secular education and science in Russia. All attributes of the European way of life were actively introduced, starting from shaving beards, wearing European dress until the position of women changes, a new view of the human personality is established, and ideas about civil honor and dignity are introduced.

As a result of these reforms, an absolutist state with secular culture, open, actively in contact with other countries, abandoning the policy of isolationism. In artistic culture, new trends have led to the formation of new genres of art, liberating it from religious content. It is also necessary to note the democratization of art, the emergence of an authorial element in it, which is not characteristic of ancient Russian culture.

The state idea found its clear embodiment in architecture, which acquired a distinctly secular character and developed in line with European art of the New Age. New forms and principles of architecture were most fully embodied in construction new capital Russia - St. Petersburg, founded in 1703. Since the city was built in stone, this required enormous costs, so in 1714, a special decree prohibited stone construction everywhere except St. Petersburg.

The basis of the new urban planning was regularity, the requirement of rigor and correctness of forms as opposed to Russian asymmetry and picturesqueness (it was not for nothing that wooden Moscow, surrounded by gardens, was called a “big village”). Unlike Russian cities, which had a radial-ring layout, the ideal of a rationally planned capital was embodied in St. Petersburg. Having emerged as a port and fortress, the city acquired military, public and administrative buildings, a shipyard, an arsenal, a museum-Kunstkamera, a hospital, colleges and other buildings that had not previously been seen in Rus' appeared. For the first time under Peter, buildings began to be built according to drawings; all architects were in the civil service, having ranks from corporal to general.

The requirement for regularity also affected mass construction, which for the first time was carried out according to standard projects. Landowners and rich merchants were obliged to build two-story stone houses, poorer people - small stone or mud houses (wooden frames backed with clay and crushed stone).

The leading role in the construction of the European capital was played by foreign architects, among whom were famous European architects. French engineer and architect Jean Baptiste Leblond (1679-1719) developed the idea of a “regular” (i.e. geo city, which became the architectural basis of the capital. Swiss Domenico Trezzini (1670-1734) became the creator of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, consisting of a high bell tower with a spire and a basilica, which gave the city a wonderful external landmark. He was the builder of the building of the Twelve Colleges, consisting of twelve parts interconnected by galleries. The Kunstkamera was built by foreign masters, as well as a Russian architect Mikhail Zemtsov (1688-1743), participated in the construction of the building of the Twelve Colleges. The architectural style of these buildings is the so-called “Petrine” Baroque.

Gradually, Russian architects began to play an increasingly important role in urban planning. Ivan Korobov (1700-1747) reconstructed the Admiralty building and created its famous golden spire with a weather vane in the shape of a three-masted ship.

In Peter's country residence in Peterhof, regular (geometrically correct) gardens, parks, and canals appeared for the first time.

Among the Moscow buildings of Peter the Great's time are the Menshikov Tower - the temple of Michael the Archangel at Chistye Prudy, built by the architect Ivan Zarudny in 1708, the height of the spire of which exceeded the bell tower of Ivan the Great, the Arsenal in the Kremlin, the unpreserved Sukharev Tower on Sretenka (it housed the Navigation School) and a two-story Lefort Palace, where assemblies were held. Peter sought to create a new urban center on the banks of the Yauza in the German settlement (Kukue) instead of the boyar Kremlin. A park with a cascade of ponds was laid out here, the palaces of Golovin and Lefort, a military hospital and the barracks of the Moscow regiment were built. In 1713, by decree of Peter the court moved to St. Petersburg, the Kremlin ceased to be a symbol of Russia.

Radical changes took place in fine arts. Painting in a short time went from parsuna in the traditions of ancient Russian art to secular portraits, as well as other paintings on secular subjects. The paintings included an image of the human body, with great attention paid to its anatomy in accordance with the ancient proportions of the figure. The use of oil paints led to the development of a new painting technique that made it possible to reflect the depth of space.

The new painting achieved its greatest success in portraits. The reason for this was the centuries-old icon-painting traditions of Russian art, as well as the tradition of the Parsuna XVII 0=ъ\

V. Therefore, in the paintings of the Peter the Great era one can find a combination of old and new European manners, i.e. the faces in the portraits were depicted in an emphatically convex manner, and the background and clothing were depicted in a flat manner.

The beginning of new Russian painting is associated with 1716, when a group of Russian artists was sent to study abroad. Among them was the famous Russian portrait painter Ivan Nikitin (1690-1742). All the master’s attention was focused on the face; the background had a flat, iconic character. Nikitin's creativity flourished in the last five years of Peter's life. He owns a portrait of the emperor on his deathbed, full of the deepest sorrow.

The head of Russian painters Andrey Matveev (1701-1739), who also studied abroad, supervised all the monumental and decorative work that took place in St. Petersburg and its environs. The master’s most famous work is his “Self-Portrait with his Wife,” in which he was the first Russian artist to create a poetic image of a friendly and loving union.

Russian painting, represented by Nikitin and Matveev, showed their remarkable ability to master the techniques of Western European craftsmanship while preserving the Russian national spirit. Worldliness and the emergence of secularism in Russian art occurred largely thanks to the efforts of these artists.

This same process of secularization occurred much more slowly in sculpture, because for too long in Rus' it was considered associated with paganism. In fact, before Peter the Great there was no sculpture in Russia. Therefore, foreign sculptors played a more prominent role than painters. Famous sculptures Summer Garden, purchased abroad, were supposed to accustom Russian people to secular sculpture and cultivate their taste.

The birth of Russian sculpture is associated with the name Carla Rastrelli (1675-1744), who together with his son, a famous architect, came to Russia in 1716, where he found a second homeland. His main work was the creation of a monument to Peter the Great. In 1723, he created a wonderful bust of the emperor, in which he emphasized the originality and intelligence of the founder of the Russian Empire. He became the author of the equestrian statue of Peter, which was cast after his death and placed in front of the Mikhailovsky Castle only in 1800.

The main theme of art of the second quarter of the 18th century. – glorification of the monarchical state, in whose honor architectural ensembles are created. The main type of construction of this time was palaces and temples, which were built in the European style. The nobles are getting richer, expanding their privileges and gradually abolishing the duties assigned to them by Peter the Great to serve for the glory of the Fatherland. The working style of life characteristic of Peter was forgotten, but the tradition of endless celebrations and lavish amusements gained unprecedented scope (the clownish wedding of the jester Prince Golitsyn and the Kalmyk woman Buzheninova in severe frost in the Ice Palace on the ice of the Neva under Anna Ioannovna, where not only the chambers with furniture were made of ice , including even a wedding “bed”, but even guns that fired real charges).

In the second quarter of the 18th century. architecture, sculpture and painting developed in style baroque, which is characterized by a desire for pomp and abundant decoration. During the Baroque era, the dominant art form was architecture. Sculpture and painting did not exist outside of connection with architecture, they were located in accordance with the architecture of the building. The sculpture was usually represented by full-length figures (statues on the roof of the Winter Palace), half-figures of Atlanteans, less often - subject bas-reliefs. The picturesque decoration consisted of mythological scenes, landscapes, and still lifes. Even the interior decoration of churches became more secular.

The most famous architect of the Baroque style in the mid-18th century. was Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli ( 1700-1771), son of the famous sculptor Carlo Rastrelli. Among his buildings are the Grand Palace in Peterhof, the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, Winter Palace(1764), Smolny Monastery Cathedral (1738-1764), Annenhof palace and park ensemble in Lefortovo (1730-1731), Biron's Palace in Jelgava (Latvia). The interior of these buildings is richly decorated with gilded bronze and stucco, and decorative sculpture. Architect Prince who worked in Moscow Dmitry Ukhtomsky (1719-1774) built the bell tower of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, the Red Gate, and many churches in the Baroque style.

Russian Baroque painting was dominated by the portrait, for which the main thing was psychological characteristics and the transfer of character traits. A major master of chamber portraits was Alexey Antropov (1716-1795), who depicted his characters with photographic precision. Serf artist Ivan Argunov (1729-1802) worked exclusively at the request of his master, Count Sheremetev, who dictated to him not only who he should paint, but also how to do it. Therefore, his works were ceremonial portraits of nobles in magnificent clothes: Prince and Princess Lobanov-Rostovsky, Admiral General Prince Mikhail Golitsyn. But he also owns a beautiful intimate self-portrait and a portrait of a serf peasant woman, devoid of officiality, reflecting the inner world of the heroes.

Made a great contribution to the development of fine arts M.V. Lomonosov , who revived the lost secrets of mosaic making. The production of smalts - colored glassy masses from which mosaics were made, was stored in Western Europe in the strictest confidence. Lomonosov managed to independently develop the entire technological process their production, creating a grandiose mosaic picture “The Battle of Poltava”.

Related information.

The first quarter of the 17th century in Russia was marked by transformations directly related to the “Europeanization” of the country. The beginning of the Petrine era was accompanied by serious changes in morals and way of life. We touched upon the transformation of education and other spheres of public life. All reforms at the first stage were extremely difficult, often violent. Let us next consider the main events of the Petrine era.

Prerequisites for reforms

It must be said that the active penetration of Western European values was noted in the country throughout the 17th century. However, it was the Petrine era that changed the direction of this influence. The 18th century was a period of introduction of new values and ideas. The key object of transformation was the life of the Russian nobility. The intensity of reforms was determined primarily by state goals. Peter the Great sought to transform the administrative, military, industrial and financial spheres. To do this, he needed the experience and achievements of Europe. He associated the success of government reforms with the formation of a qualitatively new worldview of the elites and the restructuring of the life of the nobility.

First experience

The Petrine era was influenced by the Western way of life. The Russian ruler's sympathy for European values began in his youth. In their early years Peter often came to the German settlement, where he made his first friends. After his first visit abroad, he had the idea to transfer customs, institutions, forms of entertainment and communication from Europe to Russia. However, he did not take into account that all this would be perceived with certain difficulties, since the soil and organic background for this had not been created in the country. The Petrine era, in short, is associated with the forced introduction of European values into Russian life. As the records show, the sovereign actually demanded that his subjects step over themselves and abandon the centuries-old traditions of their ancestors.

First transformations

If we talk briefly about what the Peter the Great’s era was like, then rapprochement with the West was expressed in the government’s concern for people in Russia to even outwardly resemble Europeans. After arriving from abroad, Peter ordered scissors to be brought and himself trimmed the beards of the shocked boyars. The sovereign performed this operation more than once. For him, the beard became a symbol of antiquity. He negatively perceived her presence on the face of the boyars. Although for a long time the beard has acted as an inviolable adornment, a sign of honor and birth, a source of pride. A decree of 1705 obliged all men, except priests and monks, to shave their mustaches and beards. Thus, society was divided into 2 unequal parts. One was the nobility and the elite of the urban population, which was under the pressure of Europeanization, while the other retained its usual way of life.

Painting

Artists of the Peter the Great era reflected the laws of this historical period in their own way. It must be said that painting in general reached a new level with a certain delay in comparison with other advanced countries. The art of the Petrine era becomes secular. Initially, the new painting was established in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Before this, masters painted exclusively icons. The culture of the Peter the Great era demanded the depiction of solemn battles, glorifying victories, portraits of the tsar and his subjects. Russian engravers could only illustrate church books. At the new historical stage, views of St. Petersburg and engravings for textbooks on artillery, architecture and maritime affairs were needed. The culture of the Petrine era freed itself from the power of the church and tried to catch up with European countries that had gone far ahead.

Specifics of reforms

The cultural features of the Peter the Great era were manifested in a sharp transformation of the habitual way of life of people. First of all, Russia began to join Western trends in painting. The transformations were carried out not only in order to attract foreign artists and craftsmen to the country. One of the key goals was to educate the domestic public and introduce the best European traditions. The training time for Russian masters did not last long. In the second half of the 18th century. Artists returning from Holland and Italy showed the world their talent and acquired skills, starting to create magnificent masterpieces. The new painting was distinguished by an increased interest in man. Much attention began to be paid to both his inner world and the structure of his body. Russian artists began to master the technical achievements of European masters. In their work they now use new materials: marble, oil, canvas. Direct perspective appears in painting, capable of showing the volume and depth of space. The first artists new era became Matveev and Nikitin.

Engraving

She took separate place in art in the first half of the 18th century. Engraving was considered the most accessible type of painting. She responded quickly enough to events that happened in her life. The range of subjects was reduced to portraits of great people, views of cities, battles, and special events. The Petrine era gave Russia and the world such masters as Rostovtsev, Alexey and Ivan Zubov.

Miniature portraits

They also began to appear at the beginning of the century. The first authors were Ovsov and Musikiysky. At first, miniature portraits of statesmen and their relatives were created. However, after a while, the demand for these works grew so much that a special class was created at the Academy of Arts in the last quarter of the 18th century.

Books

The literature of the Petrine era most clearly reflected the trends of modern times. In 1717, “Discourse…” was published, which described the reasons for the war with Sweden. The publication was prepared by Vice-Chancellor Shafirov on behalf of the sovereign. This "Discourse" became the first domestic diplomatic treatise on Russia's foreign policy priorities. Economic transformations were reflected in Pososhkov’s works. His most famous publication was “The Book of Wealth and Poverty.” A brilliant writer, speaker, church and public figure in the Petrine era was a supporter of church reform, Feofan Prokopovich. He developed the “Spiritual Regulations”, “The Truth of the Will of the Monarchs”. Another prominent figure was He created such religious treatises as “The Stone of Faith”, “The Sign of the Coming of the Antichrist”. These works were directed against Protestantism and reformism.

Entertainment

During the reforms, attempts were made to create public theaters in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Comedy and historical plays were staged on stage ("Amphitryon" and "Doctor Compelled" by Moliere, for example). The first domestic dramatic works began to appear. Thus, the Petrine era was marked by the creation of Prokopovich’s tragicomedy “Vladimir” and Zhukovsky’s play “Russian Glory”. Changes in morals were manifested in the emergence of new types of entertainment. By the end of 1718, the elites of St. Petersburg society announced the introduction of assemblies. This idea came to Peter after visiting French living rooms. Major political figures gathered and talked there, scientists, painters and other representatives of high society. By establishing assemblies in Russia, Peter sought to accustom the nobles to secular behavior, as well as to introduce the women of the state to public life. In the process of organizing, the reformer used both practical and theoretical achievements of Europe. The decree regulating the order of meetings in houses provided a list of rules and described the entertainment routine that those present had to follow.

Calculation

“Utility” was the main idea that permeated the entire Petrine era. The years of the reign of the great reformer were marked by the introduction of a new chronology. Now the countdown was carried out not from the creation of the world, but from the Nativity of Christ. The New Year began on January 1st, not September 1st. Holidays were also established. Thus, Peter introduced the New Year. Its celebration was to take place from January 1 to January 7. At the same time, the gates of the courtyards should be decorated with spruce, pine and juniper trees or branches. By big streets in the evenings it was prescribed to light bonfires, and meeting people had to congratulate each other. On New Year's Day, fireworks were displayed in the capital. Peter thus became the founder of many public holidays. Victory celebrations began to be organized following the example of the triumphs of Rome. In 1769, the celebrations of the victory at Azov revealed key elements of future events. Roman signs were quite clearly visible in them. By order of the sovereign, triumphal gates were built.

Introducing women to secular life

When carrying out his reforms, Peter did not take into account that the population was not quite ready for them. For example, it was extremely problematic for women to suddenly move away from the house-building way of life. However, the reformer showed concern for them. He told women how to behave, dress, speak. At first, at the assemblies, according to the recollections of contemporaries, Russian ladies, tightly pulled into corsets, did not know how to dance gracefully and easily, but also did not know how they should sit or stand. For the most part they were clumsy and clumsy.

The significance of the Petrine era

The sovereign's transformations allowed the country to reach a qualitatively new level. First of all, the gap between cultural and economic spheres from the advanced countries of Europe. In addition, Russia began to turn into a great and powerful power. Due to the introduction of European values, the country began to be perceived as international arena. Thanks to Peter's reforms, now not a single important event was decided without the participation of Russia. The changes that took place in the life of the state in the first quarter of the 18th century were very progressive. However, they further widened the gap between the nobility and the lower classes. The boyars turned into a noble elite class. The use of cultural achievements and benefits has become their only privilege. All this was accompanied by the spread of contempt for the Russian language and ancient culture among the nobles. Many historians note that Europeanization strengthened the negative cultural manifestations of pre-Petrine Russia. The introduced innovations were difficult to accept by the nobility. Often, transformations provoked actions completely opposite to those expected. Politeness and courtesy under orders could not become an internal need; they gave rise to rudeness and obscenity. The changes affected only the top of society. For a very long time after the end of the Peter the Great era, I did not go to the theater, did not read newspapers, and did not know about the existence of assemblies. Thus, the reforms changed the social situation privileged class towards the West, and the life of the lower classes - in the opposite direction, towards the East. On the one hand, transformations in the sphere of everyday life and culture created the conditions for the development of education, science, and literature. However, many European values and stereotypes were transferred by force and mechanically. This created significant obstacles to the full development of native Russian culture, based on ancient national traditions. Representatives of the noble class, accepting European values, rather sharply moved away from the people. The guardian of Russian culture - the Russian peasant - was tied to national traditions. And this connection only intensified as the state modernized. As a result, a deep socio-cultural split began in society. All these phenomena largely predetermined the acute contradictions and force of social upheavals that arose at the beginning of the 20th century.

Conclusion

Peter's transformations in the cultural and social sphere of state life were distinguished by a pronounced political character. Reforms were often carried out using violent methods. People were forced to accept values and sciences that were alien to them. All this was done in the interests of the state, which was formed according to the strict orders of the monarch. Fundamental difference The Russian Empire, created over a quarter of a century, should have been emphasized by the external attributes of the Petrine era. The reformer tried to give majesty to the state, to introduce it into international relations as a European country. That is why reforms were so actively introduced into life and affected absolutely all spheres of life of the nobles. In the early stages, innovations met with stiff resistance. However, disobedience to the monarch was not allowed. The elite classes had to obey and learn to live by new rules. In introducing reforms, Peter sought to ensure that the nobility received practical European experience. Therefore, he often traveled abroad himself, sent his subjects abroad, and invited foreigners to Russia. He sought to bring the country out of political isolation. In the era of Peter there appeared great amount works of art. Russian masters, having adopted the experience and skills of Europeans, created masterpieces that later became famous throughout the world. Significant changes were also noted in architecture. Despite the rather harsh introduction of innovations, Russia was able to move closer to Europe. However, as mentioned above, the reforms affected only the upper classes. The peasantry continued to remain uneducated. The lower classes were the guardians of ancient traditions and revered them sacredly. Peter's personality is considered controversial by many historians. His reforms are also perceived ambiguously by researchers. His transformations affected not only morals and life, art and architecture. Has undergone significant changes military sphere, administrative apparatus. Many innovations have firmly taken root in the country. Subsequent generations improved the system created by Peter. The monarch became a symbol of decisive changes, the fruitfulness and efficiency of using Western European achievements.

Peter did a tremendous amount of work in the country. Despite the fact that he did not take into account many circumstances and features, historians recognize that the state took a huge step forward during his reign. Society has become progressive, secular, well-mannered, educated. One might say, he is practically the only ruler who retained the title of Great, granted to him during his lifetime.